The CulinaryWoman Newsletter, 4/16/23

The challenge of creating a new restaurant

Welcome to the CulinaryWoman Newsletter. Greetings this time from Chicago! My New Orleans adventure is complete until fall, and I am on my way home to Ann Arbor. I took Amtrak north, and I’m taking it east later on Sunday, too.

I’ll share some tips on train travel in the next edition of Red Beans and Advice on Monday. It is one of the additional features that paid subscribers receive. They also take part in the CulinaryWoman Reading Room and are eligible for giveaways, among other perks.

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New Directions For New Restaurants

I call Chicago my ancestral city, at least on my mother’s side.

My grandparents lived here after emigrating from Riga, Latvia in the 1910s. My mother lived here in the 1940s, and I lived here from 2010-12 while I led the Changing Gears public media project. My aunt and uncle lived in Hinsdale, and I have been visiting here my entire life, from babyhood forward.

I know Chicago so well that I don’t need GPS to get around, but there are plenty of new buildings and businesses to see. (Thanks so much to Breakfast Queen Ina Pinkney for the mini-tour after lunch on Thursday.)

That includes restaurants, and I am delighted that two of my good friends here are working on new projects. Zach Engel just announced that he and his partner Andres Clavero bought the building next door to Galit, which was awarded a Michelin star last year. (You can just spot it in the photo above.)

Andres told me last week that he and Zach haven’t decided exactly what they will put there, but the opportunity to expand was too good to pass up.

Back in Chicago, Barry Sorkin, co-owner of enduringly popular Smoque BBQ, is racing to put the final touches on Smoque Steak, set to open soon. It’s an ambitious effort to bring guests an affordable steak meal, versus the breathtakingly expensive experience found in top Chicago steakhouses.

Despite his crazy schedule, Barry took time to share thoughts on why he and other owners are going in different directions when they open new places, rather than repeat what has already proved successful.

In fact, Smoque BBQ already did that. Smoque has a stand in the Revival Food Hall in the Loop downtown.

Asking for more

For years, investors have clamored for Barry and his partners to do other restaurants. But running Smoque was a 50 to 60 hour a week job.

“Putting together a proper plan for a new restaurant and executing on that plan is an all-consuming and fully immersive undertaking,” he says. “For years, I was never able to extricate myself from Smoque enough to be able to do it.  I could tinker with an idea, maybe get a couple thoughts on paper.  But I needed to find a way to physically and mentally take myself out of Smoque to really be able to give the necessary focus for a new startup.”

The only way he was able to do it was to have partners in both projects. “My partners in Smoque, who have been involved from the beginning and share the same vision, have mostly taken over the oversight of the operation.  I am occasionally involved in certain things, but at least for now, I have been spending more than 90 percent of my time on the new project.”

The importance of teamwork

Time and again, chefs say that the only way they can expand is to have reliable staffs, from the general manager to the executive chef to cooks and servers.

In a recent newsletter, famed chef and philanthropist Jose Andres explained how he can keep opening his places, which include several here in Chicago. “While people might think a restaurant has one chef behind it, they actually belong to so many more people, an entire team of dedicated, very hard-working and talented people who are the reason we can do what we do,” he wrote.

Jose has a chef in charge of research and development, Charisse Grey. She started with his organization as a cook, and became part of his “Delta Force” developing new concepts.

“When we are opening a restaurant we talk a lot about the inspiration for the food and the concept,” Charisse said in his newsletter. For the Conrad Hotel in Los Angeles, “we spent two months building out the menu, testing techniques and ingredients. We developed 80 dishes but only 20 hit the menu.”

Beyond that, chefs in the Jose Andres Group have the ability to develop their own dishes and adapt menus to local products and preferences. Whatever is happening in Chicago is working.

I stopped in Bar Mar, his seafood restaurant here, to see if I could get a sense of his presence. It was loud, festive and so packed on a Thursday night that I could not get waited on, although I could see the dozens of other diners excitedly drinking and eating. Jose’s chef’s coat is on display and his touches are all over the menu.

Why it’s taken this long

Yet, Chicago has some specific restaurant expectations that change from neighborhood to neighborhood. That’s something any proprietor needs to understand and why it can take years for new concepts to take shape.

Barry and his partners spent months researching before they hit the bullseye for Smoque, which became a hit within weeks of opening 15 years ago. I wrote about them for the New York Times in 2008, shortly after they opened. For months, Barry says, patrons came in with copies of the article under their arms.

“Smoque has been lucky enough to enjoy an amazing customer base, lots of media attention, and an excellent reputation for quality and service,” Barry says. “The response to Smoque was so far outside our expectations and the norm—even for successful restaurants.”

He went on, “Maybe a lot of this was in our head, but we have always felt like whatever we did next, if we didn’t hit it out of the park, it would be a let down, and ultimately a failure.” Because of that, “we’ve always felt burdened with the question of whether any particular idea or concept was worthy of following Smoque. I think that has kept us from pulling the trigger on anything for a very long time.  We really had to wait until something struck as similarly special.”

A highly anticipated opening

Expectations are growing for the new place, which will be far more ambitious than the original neighborhood BBQ place that Smoque was meant to be. Despite its modest size, Smoque has received multiple awards including recognition from Michelin and been featured on TV programs such as Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

Eater Chicago has listed Smoque Steak among the city’s most anticipated restaurant openings for 2023. “While we are immensely grateful for the attention and media love, we definitely feel the pressure of the high expectations and to need to be able to deliver a mind-blowing experience at high volume from day one,” Barry says. “And that’s a pretty high bar.”

Watch for Smoque Steak later in the spring. I’ll definitely visit on a future trip.

How Michelin Awards Can Affect A Food City

Speaking of Michelin, Eater had an interesting story on the impact the guide can have on a local restaurant scene. Its first stars were awarded in Vancouver six months ago. Not many were given out, however.

Despite being a top notch food center, only eight restaurants received single stars, 12 received Bibendum awards, signifying a good value (the designation Smoque has). Forty others landed on a “recommended” list, sort of a consolation prize.

Eater says some of the starred restaurants have boosted prices while reservations have become far harder to get. The latter is definitely true at Galit (you can see the Michelin star on the wall over Andres’ shoulder) and a reason why they are going to do a second place.

At a time of food inflation, Michelin awards might work against some diners’ ability to take advantage of the recommendations. This could become a bigger issue as Michelin sends its reviewers to new cities.

There is a rumor (and I stress rumor) that Michelin will add listings for New Orleans, perhaps in combination with another city such as Houston.

Based on my experience dining in other Michelin cities worldwide, I doubt New Orleans would merit many multiple star restaurants. Its dining scene is simply different from other places, with old-school charm, traditional recipes and warm hospitality playing a far bigger role than elsewhere. But I can see Michelin handing out lots of Bibs for good value and some single stars to a number of spots.

Read more on Vancouver here. https://www.eater.com/23671647/michelin-effect-restaurants-vancouver-stars

Rick Bayless Makes A Change

In Chicago, Rick Bayless remains a leading restaurant force. This past week, the outdoor seating areas at his places on Clark Street were filled with customers enjoying the unusually warm spring weather. (It truly was gorgeous.)

They may have noticed a difference in their bills. Rick is now including a service charge which is meant to create equity among his employees. He no longer wants to see his staffs divided between tipped and I tipped wages.

This is not the “no tipping” trend that some places tried in recent times. Customers who want to tip can do so, but that will be on top of the service charge.

I’d be interested in your thoughts on this approach. I think it’s a good idea, but needs to be clearly communicated. I ate at one place in New Orleans that did this and wound up tipping 40 percent, because I did not know there was already a charge on the bill.

Watch Virginia Willis On The Food Network

Atlanta chef Virginia Willis is a great friend of CulinaryWoman. Tonight, she is appearing on a new Food Network show, called Alex Vs America. Three chefs from around the country take on host Alex Guarnaschelli.

Here is a little background. https://virginiawillis.com/watch-virginia-compete-on-the-season-premier-of-alex-vs-america

Her fellow competitors are Jonathan Sawyer, who cooks here in Chicago at Adorn, and independent chef Nate Appleman. All three are winners of the James Beard Award in various categories.

Go Virginia!

Keeping Up With CulinaryWoman

I’m looking forward to participating in the Night For Notables next Saturday in Lansing, Mich. You can still order tickets and please let me know if you plan to attend. https://www.libraryofmichiganfoundation.com/mnbnightfornotables

On May 2, I am headed to Nashville to participate in a Nashville Jewish Book Series panel discussion about small businesses. Tickets are here. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/micheline-maynard-satisfaction-guaranteed-tickets-444778022037

Reach me at culinarywoman (at) gmail dot com. I’d especially love to hear from organizations looking for speakers for fall programs, live or on Zoom.

On Instagram, you can find me (at) michelinemaynard. Please check out my Reels from my most recent travels and dining.

Christos Anesti to my dear Greek friends! There are rumors it may snow in some places this week (brrrrr). Stay safe and healthy. I’ll see our paid subscribers tomorrow with Red Beans and Advice and everyone else next Sunday.